Jazz: Henry Butler

By JON PARELES

Published: July 30, 1987

THE audience at Sweet Basil on Tuesday was dotted with well-known pianists, there to check out a flashy player who grew up in New Orleans and now lives in Los Angeles, Henry Butler. Leading a quartet with three first-rate sidemen - Alvin Batiste on clarinet, Ron Carter on bass and Joe Chambers on drums - Mr. Butler revels in fluency and facility, splashing chords all over the keyboard and streaking through solos with machine-gun articulation. At the moment, though, he gets carried away with his technique.

Mr. Butler can toss off two utterly independent rhythms with his two hands, and his speed and quick reactions to the other quartet members were impressive. But unless he holds himself back a little - as he did, on Tuesday, when the quartet played standards - Mr. Butler has a tendency to fill every space; he doesn't even sustain a chord without turning it into a tremolo. The floridity sometimes threatens to suffocate the music, but with some restraint, Mr. Butler could be formidable.

The quartet is compatible, and along with the sinewy rhythm section of Mr. Carter and Mr. Chambers, it offers New Yorkers a rare chance to hear Mr. Batiste, an extraordinary New Orleans clarinetist (and one of Mr. Butler's teachers). His startling leaps and harmony-stretching arpeggios, and a tone that can be richly affable or overblown and urgent, create an incisive contrast to Mr. Butler's playing. The group is at Sweet Basil, 88 Seventh Avenue South, above Bleecker Street, through Sunday.